Moscow, June 25 - RIA Novosti, Mikhail Katkov. The fact that Vladimir Zelensky wants to remove his old friend Ivan Bakanov from the post of head of the SBU came to light on Friday. Politico was referring to four officials close to the president and one foreign diplomat. Why the former artist lost faith in what seemed to be his most reliable colleague in difficult times - the material of RIA Novosti.
"We don't know where he is"
This is not the first time Bakanov has been at the center of a scandal. On the eve of the special operation, the head of the SBU simply disappeared - they said in the president's office that they had no idea where he was.
Media speculated that the senior security official traveled to Germany with his right-hand man, Andrei Naumov, head of the SBU's Main Directorate of Internal Security. He fled the country hours before the special operation began and was only arrested on June 7 at the border between Serbia and North Macedonia.
Naumov is suspected of money laundering and espionage for Russia. German citizen Alexander Akst, who was detained with him, was sanctioned on smuggling charges. In the car they found 600,000 euros, $125,000 and two emeralds .
Obviously, Bakanov is not with them. He was discovered earlier: He appeared before reporters in April to talk about detained opposition platform leader Viktor Medvedchuk.
According to the legend of the Ukrainian security forces, the politician escaped from house arrest immediately after the outbreak of hostilities and tried to leave Ukraine, but SBU officials captured him anyway. Medvedchuk was charged with treason and supporting terrorism for allegedly overseeing coal procurement for DPR and LPR in 2015.
Former President Petro Poroshenko is also involved in the same case. In early June, he went abroad in the name of participating in an international forum and did not return home.
"I won't let you wipe your feet"
Bakanov and Zelensky have been friends since childhood. They were born and raised in Kryvyi Rih, received higher education there and worked together in "Kvartal 95". In 2019, Bakanov headed Zelensky’s campaign headquarters and became head of the SBU immediately after his victory. The opposition criticized the president's choice due to the candidate's lack of special service experience, but the bonds of friendship became even more important.
According to Politico sources, Zelensky first had serious doubts about Bakanov's professional suitability after Russian troops drove the Ukrainian armed forces out of Kherson . The president then realized that the SBU leadership was, to put it mildly, not living up to its responsibilities.
Ukrainian authorities directly stated that they had lost the city due to betrayal by the security services. In particular, the head of the Kherson division of the service, General Sergey Krivoruchko, allegedly ordered his officers to evacuate.
Meanwhile, as promised in Kiev, his assistant Colonel Igor Sadokhin led the advancing Russian troops around the minefields and corrected the air strikes. In addition, for some reason, SBU officials did not blow up the Antonovsky Bridge across the Dnieper River, which simplified the capture of Kherson.
Roman Dudin, the head of the SBU in the Kharkiv region, was also unable to hold his post at the time. Zelensky accused the security official of "not working and thinking only of himself." Dudin, who has been the head of the regional unit since 2020, demanded a public apology from the president.
"He never allowed anyone to wipe his feet, not even the president, not even a private citizen," he said. silovik is convinced that he was fired due to the conspiracy of Kharkov Region Governor Oleg Sinegubov.
In turn, residents of Kharkiv told Ukrainian media that from the first days of the special operation, SBU officials covered up looters and tried to arrest employees of the regional administration who clashed with Dudin. The orgy allegedly stopped only after Zelensky intervened.
is not capable
According to experts, the situation in the Security Service has a negative impact on the entire state apparatus. Even at the highest levels of power, there are rumors that the president's team does not have the necessary capabilities.
Denis Denisov, Director of the Institute for Peacekeeping Initiatives and Conflict Studies.
The expert added: "The President of Ukraine realized too late that the SBU had collapsed and could not be responsible for the security of the country. Therefore, he is working to rebuild the department."
RIA Experts interviewed by Novosti emphasized that with Zelensky Those who took the stage together were not politicians, but professional media workers. They are not yet scattered in different directions, but are already looking around for convenient opportunities. Somehow they managed to turn the Russian-Ukrainian conflict into entertainment, but these people are incapable of carrying out management reforms.
"They have no strategic vision for the development of the country and see themselves as temporary workers. But they will not cause greater harm to Ukraine. The president is not advised by his friends, but by foreign curators. So alone “The quality of Zelensky’s inner circle does not matter,” said Vladimir Zalykhin, deputy director of the Commonwealth Institute of State Research. Otherwise Kyiv would have stopped resisting by now. "
All of them
Zelensky was humiliated by other colleagues of Kvartal. For example, Yevgeny Koshevoy, a friend of the president, told compatriots that he would not join the army because he could not fight and was worried about the first day would be shot by a sniper. At the same time, Koshevoy will not flee abroad or hide from mobilization inside Ukraine, because he knows that trouble will bypass Zelensky's friends.
Former of "Kvartal" Actor Yuri Koryavchenkov stars as Yuzik, who became the Verkhovna Rada's deputy three years ago. Zelensky entrusts him with overseeing big construction projects. Yuzik soon moved his Brother Sergei, the owner of the company Ryzhevsky Granite Quarry, was brought there.
With the help of state orders, a relative sold the gravel for 2 billion hryvnia (more than 67 million US dollars). Kolya The Vchenkov brothers will not go to the front either. Yuzik last appeared in Ukrainian media on February 23, where he talked about Krivoy Rog's ability to withstand a siege.
